Flights seen declining faster at smaller airports

Though Arkansas’ two largest airports followed a national trend of declines in commercial airline flights during the past five years, they haven’t been hit as hard as many of the nation’s smaller airports, according to a national study issued this week.

Smaller U.S. airports, which include all but 29 major hubs, lost on average 21.9 percent of flights between 2007-12, according to the study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s International Center for Air Transportation.

Fort Smith Municipal Airport saw flights decline 30.6 percent in the five-year period. Texarkana Municipal Airport was down 43.9 percent. Both airports, however, lost fewer actual flights than the two larger Arkansas airports, in Little Rock and Highfill.

Fort Smith Airport Director John Parker said a slow economy and recession have been the culprits. “In 2008, the wheels came off the bus,” he said.

“I’m not surprised major hubs have fared better,” Parker added. “The larger the population base, the more potential travelers.”

Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field in Little Rock saw flights decline by 19.7 percent during the five-year period, according to the study. Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill lost 13.8 percent of flights.

The average loss for the biggest hubs, such as Dallas/ Fort Worth International Airport, was 8.8 percent.

“From what we are seeing in the industry, I think the study is right on the money,” said Northwest Arkansas Regional executive director Scott Van Laningham. “Airlines have gotten the excess capacity out of the system.”

Clinton airport spokesman Shane Carter said the study “shows just how widespread the impact of consolidation by the airlines has been.

All in all, we are in fairly good shape when compared to some of the other airports.”

Little Rock airport commissioners also helped by not raising operating rates for airlines during the four-year period after the recession, he said.

The MIT study cited “a difficult global economic climate and a U.S. recession, high and volatile fuel prices, and a recent trend of ‘capacity discipline’[cost-cutting] strategies by major airlines” as driving cutbacks in airline flights. “The nation’s small- and medium-sized airports have been disproportionally affected.”

To cut costs, airlines have emphasized their most profitable and heavily booked flights, the study said.

At the same time, they have cut back on emptier flights and service to some smaller hubs.

Van Laningham said his airport, surrounded by Fortune 500 companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Tyson Foods Inc. and J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc., has probably fared better than most smaller airports because of its higher percentage of business travelers.

About two-thirds of the Highfill airport’s passengers are business travelers who often buy higher-priced tickets.

Typical airports might have 50 percent or fewer business travelers.

Passenger counts were up last month compared with April 2012 at the Northwest Arkansas and Fort Smith airports, according to Van Laningham and Parker.

“There is a real economic recovery under way,” Van Laningham said.

Business, Pages 31 on 05/18/2013

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